HBO's Rome Becoming a Movie?

HBO's Rome was prematurely cancelled? Being a huge, HUGE, fan of the show, I thought that the second season ended well, with no suggestion that there could be a third season, if time would allow. But, as it turns out, there is much more story to tell.

HBO Rome Finale = Movie?

So you're saying we could have had a third season of Rome? Rats! Producer Bruno Heller admits that HBO's Rome was cut during its prime and, to do the series final justice, he is currently in talks of doing what only sounds like a theatrical finale. Though it sounds strange, any fan of the show would be excited about another half hour, let alone an entire feature.

"There is talk of doing a movie version," Bruno Heller said. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off."

But there's a catch. HBO threw in the towel on Rome long before it ran its final er, second season. Assuming that much of the first season's ratings should be credited to the fact that The Soprano's was slotted right before it, the network execs were shocked to not only see the series' ratings stabilize during its second season, but also receive more Emmys.

Just as the show was beginning to gallop the network had already decided to end all obligations from the cast and, in effect, destroyed the expensive sets that made the series risky in the first place.

What can be done? Well, for one, the powers that be over HBO have openly admitted that axing the show was a mistake. To make matters worse, they killed off one of the series' lead characters played by Kevin McKidd. Or did they?

It turns out that we never saw his character die, meaning he could have survived his injuries after all.

"It was very deliberate that we saw him drifting away but didn't see him atop a funeral pyre," Heller said.

So, if everybody can come back, where can Rome go next? Here is some depressing news for fans: The third season could have been the show's coup de gras. Remember the emphasis placed on local Jews in the second season? Well, who do you think is coming?

"I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."